Hi-Time Invades San Pedro!

by Tobin Sharp

What?!? Hi-Time invades San Pedro? Well, not really.  But I was up there on Saturday night (Feb. 27th) to take part in an annual activity for me. Many moons ago I worked at a Boy Scout camp on Santa Catalina Island, Camp Emerald Bay; each year, our alumni group (Emerald Bay Association) puts on a charity wine tasting in order to provide funds for Boy Scouts who otherwise would not be able to attend our camp due to financial hardship.  The camp has been operating on Catalina since 1925 (with a break for a few years during World War II when it was used by the Navy) and I spent my summers from 1984-1994 there.  As I now work in the wine biz, it was natural for me to help with the 'wine' part of the wine tasting (which I have been glad to do each year).

This year we are very fortunate in that the Cabrillo Beach Yacht Club invited us to use their facility to host the tasting.  We met last Saturday to help select the wines we would taste for our upcoming (April 30th) event.  The club itself is gorgeous and appointed beautifully; we had the chance to meet some of the club board members (who tasted with us) who were down-to-earth, gracious and interested in what we do at camp.  We look forward to returning there in April.

Relatively inexpensive and offering much "bang for the buck" in terms of quality, we selected five of the 12 I brought (though I was very happy in that there wasn't a "stinker" [or corked wine] in the bunch):
Gerard Bertrand 2013 Reserve Chardonnay
Riff 2014 Pinot Grigio
Valentina 2012 Montepulciano d'Abruzzo
Entresuelos 2012 Tempranillo
Delas Esprit 2013 Côtes du Rhône.

Hi-Time supports the Newport Beach Public Library Foundation

The Newport Beach Public Library Foundation sponsors a wonderful series of lectures and book signings at the Central Library next door to City Hall. Hi-Time is a hospitality sponsor of the Witte Lecture series. Hi-Time owner Ida Hanson (on the right) and longtime employee Ann Stephens (on the left) attended the lecture given by New Yorker cartoonist Roz Chast (center) last Friday, January 29th. Roz gave a funny and moving talk about her illustrated memoir "Can't We Talk about Something More Pleasant?” which recounts her efforts to help her aging parents during their final years.

The previous Friday Ann and colleague Gail Roberts attended the sold-out lecture given by Jessica Fellowes about the making of the Downton Abbey television series. During a reception before the talk attendees enjoyed tasting French wines donated by Hi-Time: a White Bordeaux and a Beaujolais.